29% of parents allow their kids under age 7 to use a mobile apps unsupervised.

The poll also asked about teaching online safety to kids. Eighty-nine percent of people without kids and 74% of parents “agree that parents should provide online safety guidance.”

Thanks to the the survey uncovered by Microsoft that computers and gaming consoles are introduced at 8 on average, whereas email, texting, and social networking are allowed later on (between ages 11 and 12). By the teen years (13), parents surveyed allow kids to use devices and online services without supervision. (Parents who did not allow usage of mobile devices and online services when they took the survey planned to do so later, when their kids are 15 to 18 years old.)

Are you flipping kidding me? If an eight-year-old child is online, unsupervised, without safety guidance, then that seems like a recipe for disaster. And kids installing mobile apps without supervision…does that mean they know all about checking out the permissions that apps ask for and what is and is not acceptable?

When the father of the 14-year-old girl was asked about his daughter’s malicious harassing and cyberbullying, he told The Associated Press, “None of it’s true. My daughter’s a good girl and I’m 100% sure that whatever they’re saying about my daughter is not true.”Oh really? Maybe the dad should check out his daughter’s bragging on Facebook. “‘Yes, I bullied Rebecca and she killed herself but I don’t give a …’ and you can add the last word yourself,” quoted the sheriff from the girl’s Facebook post.Does unsupervised device and social network usage, with or without online safety guidance, still seem wise? People without kids responded an average of two to three years later as acceptable for allowing device usage, meaning parents are less strict and “may be cooler than kids think.”Take the Survey here: https://survey2.securestudies.com/wix/p222707061.aspx

Missy Krasner, EIR at Morgenthaler Ventures, leads a discussion with Ian Shakil cofounder of Augmedix and Dr. Pierre Theodore, surgeon and thoracic oncologist at UCSF about ways wearable technology Google Glass could be used in healthcare, in clinical, surgical, and consumer settings.

Rock Health’s Health Innovation Summit brings together the brightest minds across industries to wrestle with healthcare’s most challenging problems. This 2-day conference features leaders and up-and-comers in digital health in unique and participatory programming. To learn more about Health Innovation Summit, visit http://www.healthinnovationsummit.com.

Rock Health funds and supports startups building the next generation of technologies transforming healthcare. To learn more about Rock Health, visit http://www.rockhealth.com.

Application developers are racing to have their software ready to go when Google Glass, the wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display, finally becomes available to the general public by year-end.

But while most apps will focus on the infotainment space, analysts predict there will be a huge secondary opportunity for app development in healthcare and physical-activity monitoring.

Indeed, Shane Walker, associate director for Consumer and Digital Health Research at IHS, believes blood glucose meters, cholesterol meters and pill dispensers are just a few of the dedicated medical devices that could potentially tie into Glass via Bluetooth connections.

Image at the top of the page is Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin demo’ing Google Glass (Photo Credit: Paul Sakuma/AP)

“You might have the app set up for automatic reminders to the Glass wearer with recurring data points throughout the day,” he said, “or Glass could provide warnings through the eyepiece that there might potentially be a problem of which the wearer needs to be aware.”

In a recent online presentation hosted by Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Total Health, app developer Silica Labs demo’d Glass, indicating that one of the company’s objectives is to develop healthcare apps for the device.

But right now, said Antonio Zugaldia, Silica Labs’ chief builder, the Google API isn’t optimized for real-time streaming, so connecting to peripheral devices — such as activity monitors — would require a workaround.

However, said Walker of IHS, the Glass software is updated on a monthly basis, and Google did add video streaming in a recent update to the Mirror API. Meanwhile, developing native applications can be done using the Android Software Development Kit (SDK), even though this is something of a workaround until the full Glass Development Kit (GDK) arrives for native applications.

For the time being, however, a handful of app developers are proceeding with their healthcare-related creations:

CPRGlass. An app that will guide users step by step on how best to perform CPR. It will contact 911, inform users regarding adequate compressions (by playing the disco hit “Stayin’ Alive,” whose beat guides the user to compress at a rate of 100/min.), let users know if there is an automated defibrillator nearby (information which comes from AED4.US’s crowd-sourced database), and perhaps contact someone nearby the AED to ask them to bring it to the user if possible. At the moment, CPRGlass is in the prototype stage, but its developer, Dr. Christian Assad-Kottner, interventional cardiology fellow at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, hopes to release a beta version soon to selected Glass testers.

CATHGlass. Also on the drawing board of Dr. Assad-Kottner, this app for cardiologists will provide important patient information during procedures.

Cerora’s MindReader. BrickSimple, a developer of mobile apps, has demonstrated wireless Google Glass integration with Cerora’s MindReader over Bluetooth. The MindReader technology is designed to help medical personnel identify head injuries in both battlefield and sports scenarios.

“When you’re dealing with head injuries,” said Det Ansinn, BrickSimple’s president, “time spent glancing away at equipment is time not spent on studying the patient for important visual cues. The integration of Google Glass with MindReader will improve the physician/patient experience and potential for better diagnosis.”

And at mobile app developer Somo, senior innovation manager Joel Blackmore reports the company recently held a companywide “Hack Day” to encourage staff to come up with ideas for development. Of the seven proofs of concept that emerged, two medical-specific POCs are being turned into fully formed products to showcase to clients as part of Somo’s Innovation Lab:

For diagnosing patients. The app will allow a doctor to use Glass to diagnose symptoms more accurately. Speaking into Glass, the doctor might say: “Patient has the following symptoms – itchy skin, fatigue, dry patches, and insomnia.” Glass might respond with two possible diagnoses – food allergy or mercury toxicity.
For the operating room. The app could help a doctor compare a patient’s anatomy to a normal or healthy standard. The doctor might say: “Glass, show me what a normal liver looks like.” Glass would respond with an appropriate image.

Because users hear Glass not through typical headphones or earbuds but through a bone-conduction transducer, Walker of IHS believes — and a professional audiologist concurs — that there will be an opportunity for Glass to be used for hearing augmentation.

“If you have one-sided deafness, you could potentially use the bone conduction transducer as a hearing aid,” Walker explains. Companies like TransEar currently employ that technology, he says, but their device is constructed to fit into the ear canal. Fairly common, too, are implanted bone conductors for severe hearing loss.

“Using Glass for this purpose wouldn’t require an implant, which involves a surgical procedure and is very expensive,” he says. “For some people this would be an inexpensive alternative. I can even imagine using speech-to-text technology so that the written words would display on the Glass eyepiece, making the app even more powerful.”

With a little imagination, says Dr. Assad-Kottner, one can conceptualize all sorts of possible medical uses for Glass. For instance, he says:

Help With Procedures. Imagine this: A resident says, “OK, Glass, call Dr. Smith.” Dr. Smith responds (via Glass) and the resident explains that he is stuck and not sure how to proceed with a patient. Dr. Smith may recommend a different approach since he is able to see what the resident sees – or he can instruct the resident to stop the procedure altogether.
Electronic Medical Records [EMRs]. Teams like Evermed are working on an app to use Glass with EMRs. A patient would come into the doctor’s office, Glass would identify the patient using facial recognition and then pull up the most recent medical information for the doctor to view instantly, such as allergies, previous plan, if goal was achieved, scheduled procedures, results from last ordered tests, and so on. (In a challenge to the marketability of this app, Google recently announced that it is banning facial-recognition applications for the near-term until privacy concerns are addressed.)
Telemedicine. Dr. Assad-Kottner has experimented with a colleague to do the first cardiology consult over Glass. “The way it felt,” he says, “was practically like being next to the patient.”

Jack Kent, IHS principal analyst, mobile, said he definitely agrees that medical applications, as well as industrial use cases where hands-free access to information is useful, “will be a real opportunity for Google Glass.

“For the past few years, smartphones and tablets have dominated developer activity with new apps and experiences tailored to the specific demands of those devices,” he said. “Google Glass is one of a number of new devices that will hope to attract the developer expertise. It is important to remember that these will usually be tied to a smartphone to provide core functionality and connectivity. But the overall app experience will be very different.”

Chalk it up to a learning experience: too much debt, even in a low interest rate environment, can be costly.

Cengage Learning, a private equity-backed education company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday as part of an effort to shrink its $5.8 billion debt load. The company, based in Stamford, Conn., also said that it had entered into a restructuring agreement with lenders who hold $2 billion of its first-lien debt. The restructuring will eliminate more than $4 billion in debt from the company’s balance sheet.

“The decisive actions we are taking today will reduce our debt and improve our capital structure to support our long-term business strategy of transitioning from traditional print models to digital educational and research materials,” Michael Hansen, Cengage Learning’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Cengage was originally Thomson Learning, part of the Thomson media conglomerate of Canada, which sold it for about $7.75 billion in 2007 when the company was preparing to merge with Reuters. The buyers were Apax Partners and Omers Capital Partners — a private equity unit of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Board pension fund.

As Cengage, the company acquired the college publishing division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing for $750 million. In 2011, Cengage acquired National Geographic’s digital and print school publishing unit for an undisclosed price.

Cengage said that it planned to make timely payment to vendors for goods and services during its Chapter 11 restructuring and that employees would continue to receive their usual pay and health and welfare benefits. In the filing in the United States bankruptcy court in Brooklyn, the company said it had more than $1 billion in assets.

Cengage’s legal adviser is Kirkland & Ellis, its restructuring adviser is Alvarez & Marsal, and its financial adviser is Lazard.

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I saw this promo by Chitrangana S today, was impressed and motivated to share this vital info with my sister, mother, wife, daughter, and friends. Tell them that we are VithU (V and U, with you…..)

I am a regular follower of GUMRAH on Air or online if I miss any, have been also concerned about our women and those friends visiting our country. Lets make this place safe, share to show you care.

VithU: V Gumrah Initiative (STAR India Pvt. Ltd.- August 28, 2013)

Description

VithU, is an emergency App that, at the click of the power button of your smartphone 2 times consecutively begins sending out alert messages every 2 minutes to your contacts that you feed into the app as the designated receivers or guardians.

The receiver will receive a link to your location every 2 minutes giving them your updated location. Also, you will get updates on the Crime Scene in India and a “Tips Feed” option exclusively giving you safety tips in an emergency situation.

Developed in house by Channel V, the “VithU” app is a panic button ready to be powered in moment of crisis. The app has been launched with Channel V’s prime property, Gumrah that returns on the telly for the third time. Its focus is simple – “be aware, be prepared, be safe.” Alive on android phones, and soon will be made available on IOS, all one needs to do is press the power button on their phone twice in case of emergency and a message “I am in trouble, please help” will immediately reach five contacts selected by you along with your location. Neat. Download it now, please.

The first time I came across GoVenture´s Gamify.me mobile app I was doing some research for xAPI Design Program organized by ADL (I will write more about this in the upcoming weeks). I was looking for some ways to integrate gamification with existing learning solutions in order to make them more effective and engaging.
Let´s imagine the following scenario:

Your company will be launching a new product in two weeks´ time and every sales representative needs to know about its features/specifications. Do you need an eLearning course? A 5-hour workshop? Or, will you be distributing a 120-page manual? Let´s try something different: every day during the next ten days, employees will receive a short video or feature description via email/text message. Then, they will self-monitor their own progress and success.

Problem
I recently delivered the pilot on responsive design It was a big challenge for my Project Manager for making/convincing my client on how without using/buying various devices we tested their products on different resolution’s which was full proof.

Result
My client was surprised and delighted and we bagged the project

Chennai-based siblings Shravan and Sanjay, joint founders of Go Dimensions – a company that creates gaming and learning software for mobile phones – will address 120 business management students, including those from the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad and Kozhikode), today.

The talk is part of a lecture series to be delivered by the CEOs and business tycoons for Wedvaan, the annual three-day festival organised by Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research at their campus in Matunga.The audience comprising students in their early 20s is impressionable and ambitious. The two speakers, Shravan and Sanjay, are aged 13 and 10 respectively, and like any other boys, spend half their day in school learning math and English and history.Shravan, the president of his firm, is a Std VIII student while Sanjay, the chief executive officer, studies in Std VI. Their company is a year-and-amonth-old, and has launched five applications that are available for free download at the Apple Store, and encouraged by the response, is launching the paid applications this year.

The boys, who missed school on Friday to make it for the fest, say stagefear has never been a problem. “We spoke at IIM-Bangalore last year, so it isn’t an issue to address students who are twice our age,” says Shravan.The boys are accompanied by their parents who say life hasn’t changed much since they started their company in January 2012. “They have a routine when they return from school. They play for an hour and then get on to complete the programming for their business projects,” says the lads’ father, Kumaran Surendran, himself a director of a software company.Sanjay, the CEO, cheekily adds, “Our friends in the school also play some of the games we have developed but they don’t fully understand what we do.”The boys say their started off with an idea two years ago, which they bounced off their dad, and things started to roll. In a couple of years, they picked up the nuances of programming, and launched their firm which required very little capital.Kaustubh Dhargalkar, a professor at the Welingkar Institute, says the boys’ understanding of market dynamics was “astounding”. Says Dhargalkar, “I first met them when we shared a stage at a TED event in Pune last year. I was amazed at their understanding of the market. They were able to identify an opportunity and monetise their business. We could learn from their experience.”Akshay Bahadur, 23, a first-year student of the PG diploma in management course, plans to specialise in marketing next year. While he admits he is looking forward to the lecture by Kunwar Sachdev, founder and managing director of SUKAM, he is equally curious to learn more about the boys. “Mr Sachdev runs a Rs 3,000-crore empire that he started from scratch and worked on for 10 years. At the same time, I think these kids who know their business so well is worth a listen,” says Akshay.Age isn’t a factor, says Neha Bhandari, another first year student who claims she doesn’t mind the fact that the speakers will be ten years younger than her. “They are being looked at as prodigies. In the business world, only numbers speak and you have to be humble enough to listen to those who have achieved something. We also have a talk by two dabba wallahs who will explain how their celebrated distribution system works,” says Neha.

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Tuesday, February 12 2013 Technology makes this a magical time to be a student. And a powerful time to be an educator. The Apple Leadership Tour is an opportunity to experience how you can transform learning with innovative new tools for creating, curating, and deploying content.

Please join us for this special event for Education Leaders committed to integrating the best in learning practices with the best in learning technology. Keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and opportunities for networking will give participants a deeper understanding of how mobile technology and digital content are transforming education.An iPad with dedicated educational digital content will be provided for each delegate throughout the day. The hands-on breakout sessions led by successful educators will allow each delegate to experience some of the thousands of education Apps as well as Multi-Touch digital books and many other interactive learning materials.See how iPad transforms teaching and learning at all levels. View case studies here